User post: Holiday Homebrew

In our home, the holidays are full of family traditions. From cutting down a fresh Christmas tree in the nearby Santa Cruz mountains to seeing what is behind the door each day of the Advent calendar, we love this time of year.

While most of our traditions are focused around the kids, one particular favorite of mine is not. What is it you ask? Well, it is whipping up a batch of our favorite holiday cheer called 44. Yep, 44.

44 is a recipe that has been passed down to me from my Ukrainian grandparents. It was a favorite holiday drink back in the cold winters of the Ukraine. There, they used their own homemade potato vodka but here any store bought vodka will do.

The simple recipe is as follows (you'll see why it has the name 44):
Ingredients *44 sugar cubes *44 coffee beans *1 Bottle of Vodka *4-6 whole oranges

Pour the vodka into a large container with lid. Add the sugar, coffee beans and oranges. Put the container in a cool place (such as your pantry) and let sit for 44 days.

After 44 days, you will have a delicious liqueur that tastes similar to Grand Marnier. It is not too late to start your batch, you just might have to tweak it and call it 34!



This post was inspired by the Yahoo! Motherboard which I am thrilled to be a member of.